Detroit Red Wings (NHL, 1987-88)

1987-88 Regular Season:
Red Wings vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

     The Detroit Red Wings began to emerge from their two-decade long slumber in the late 1980s. Little Caesar's owner Mike Illitch purchased the struggling franchise in 1982 and hired Jim Devellano of the New York Islanders as GM. The team made the playoffs in two of Illitch's first three seasons, despite finishing way below .500. After a disastrous 1985-86 season, the Wings surprised everyone the following season by reaching the Campbell Conference Finals, losing in a competitive five-game series to the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers. Head Coach Jacques Demers was the easy choice for the Jack Adams Trophy as Coach of the Year, for guiding that remarkable turnaround.
     Detroit had an excellent season in 1987-88, finishing in first place for the first time since 1964-65 and above .500 for the first time since 1972-73.  The Red Wings, in fact, were the only team to finish above .500 in the Norris Division, cruising to the division title with a 41-28-11 record, 17 points ahead of St. Louis. The Wings were fifth overall in the NHL, just two seasons after finishing dead last. As a result, Demers became the only coach in history to repeat as Adams Award winner.
     The 1987-88 Detroit Red Wings were a talented group on both offense and defense that also wasn't afraid to play physical. The team was in the top five in goals for, goals against and penalty minutes. On offense, the Wings pumped in 322 goals, third-most in the NHL. They were led by Steve Yzerman, who had his best season to date. In his second season as captain, "Stevie Y" became the fourth Red Wing to hit the 50-goal mark, scoring exactly 50 goals and 102 points. Unfortunately, a knee injury sidelined Yzerman for the last 16 games of the season and all but three games in the playoffs.
     While losing a player the caliber of Yzerman hurt the team, Detroit had plenty of firepower to not allow his injury to derail the year. Two other Wings hit the 30-goal mark, Gerard Gallant (34) and Petr Klima (37). League heavyweight Bob Probert had a career year, scoring 29 goals and 62 points, earning his first All-Star team selection. Center Brent Ashton was the other Wing to score over 20, chipping in 26.
     The Red Wings were a tough team, not afraid to drop the gloves or play physical if necessary. Detroit piled up 2,391 penalty minutes, third-most in the league. Probert and fellow heavyweight Joe Kocur, the infamous "Bruise Brothers", kept teams honest, as they racked up 398 and 263 minutes in the box, respectively. Gallant, when not scoring goals, also spent a healthy amount of time in the box, with 242 minutes in 73 games.
     Detroit had a great season defensively as well, allowing 269 goals, sixth-fewest in the league. The Wings used four different goaltenders, but the main two netminders were Glen Hanlon and Greg Stefan. Hanlon played in 47 games and went 22-17-5 with a 3.23 GAA and 4 shutouts. Stefan played even better, with a 17-9-5 record, a 3.11 GAA and 1 shutout in 33 games. Sam St. Laurent and Darren Eliot were the other two netminders, and played in a combined 9 games that year. Overall, the Wings had a young group on defense, as only Doug Halward was over 30. Darren Veitch was the top scorer on the blueline, with 40 points, while Jeff Sharples had the most goals with 12.
     The Red Wings opened the playoffs as heavy favorites to return to the Campbell Conference Finals. Their first opponent would be the arch-rival Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs had a terrible season, finishing 21-49-10, the second-worst record in the league, but made the playoffs by finishing in fourth place in the Norris by a single point over Minnesota. Despite their poor regular season record, the Leafs surprised the Wings in Game One, cruising to a 6-2 win at Joe Louis Arena. Undaunted, the Wings won four of the next five games to take the series in six. They then faced the St. Louis Blues in the second round and dispatched the Blues in 5 games to reach the Campbell Conference Finals for the second straight year.
     The Wings faced the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers for the second straight season. The Wings kept it close for most of the series, but the Oilers were simply too good. The Wings won Game 3 in Detroit, but lost a heartbreaker in Game 4 in overtime. Prior to Game 5, several Wings players, including Probert and Klima, were caught breaking curfew at Goose Loonies, an Edmonton nightclub. The result was an 8-4 rout by the Oilers to send the Wings home in five games.
     Now, for this program. It's 116 pages, and a combination of a Red Wings program and an edition of GOAL magazine. Most of the pages are in color and there are a lot of great articles. In the GOAL section, broadcaster Mike Emrick wrote an interesting article about luck in the NHL. In one paragraph, Emrick noted that, when approached about the idea of buying a new car during the Detroit Auto Show, Wings GM Jim Devellano said he had four cars stolen in one season! Montreal Canadiens head coach Jean Perron was interviewed. On page 36, there's an article about the veteran goaltenders in the league, such as Gilles Meloche, Bill Smith, Reggie Lemelin and Greg Millen. In the Red Wings program section, player profiles of Gilbert Delorme and future Hall-of-Famer Adam Oates are included. There is also an article about young defensemen Steve Chiasson, Jeff Sharples and Rick Zombo. The franchise all-time records and last year's playoff results are listed as well.
   

     This program is from a game between the Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. I thought it was from their first round playoff series, but it's actually a regular season game. Despite their awful record, the Leafs had some talent on their roster, including Russ Courtnall, Vincent Damphousse, Wendel Clark and Al Iafrate. However, the Wings were a much stronger team, even without Steve Yzerman. In front of a sellout crowd of 19,783, the Red Wings clobbered the Leafs, 7-3. With Yzerman out with his knee injury, Gerard Gallant was the substitute captain that night, with Tim Higgins and Dave Barr as alternates.
     Adam Oates, now there's a player the Red Wings should have kept. The Wings signed him as a free agent out of RPI. He was a dependable center for the Wings, but was traded to St. Louis with Paul MacLean for Tony McKegney and Bernie Federko, one of the worst trades in Wings' history. Oates formed a lethal combination with Brett Hull and went on to a Hall-of-Fame career, with the Blues, Bruins and Capitals, among other teams.

Aftermath: The Wings repeated as Norris champs in 1988-89, but slipped to 34-34-12 on the year. They were upset by the Blackhawks in Round One in six games. After a last-place finish in 1989-90, Demers was fired as coach.